Greater New Orleans

Ochsner 5150 triathlon has been moved to early summer

Two years ago, Ironman approached Bill Burke about purchasing Premier
Event Management, his company that produced triathlons and other races
across the nation.

Twenty-one months later, Burke has his company
back and is once again making his presence felt in the New Orleans
triathlon community.

“(Ironman parent company) World Triathlon
Corporation offered it back to me, and I jumped at the chance,” Burke
said. “I was able to get my company back and still manage all of these
events. It’s a good move for both of us.”

Among the first of his
moves since getting his company back is to move the date of the Ochsner
5i50 New Orleans. The 5i50, an Olympic-distance triathlon, was to be
held on April 22, the same day as the larger Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New
Orleans. However, because of the 200th anniversary celebration of the
Battle of New Orleans culminating that week, Burke said changes needed
to be made.

The city will have a Navy week celebration finishing
that weekend, and the Blue Angels are going to be doing an air show on
Saturday and Sunday (the day of the race) between 1 and 4 p.m.

“Logistically,
it made sense not to have both races,” Burke said. “But we have been
working with the city on this to provide the best atmosphere possible.”

Now,
the 70.3 will start and finish at UNO instead of finishing in City
Park, where Burke had moved the race finish to in November.

With
the air show happening along Lake Pontchartrain, Burke said it would
have been difficult for the racers to finish in City Park, then get back
to UNO during that time frame because of the amount of people heading
to the lakefront for the air show.

Burke said he has worked with
the city to have all of the bikes off the course by noon or a little
after, allowing the air show to start at 1 p.m. This also means that
anyone still on the course at the time will be running and could
possibly finish the race while the Blue Angels are performing above.

Now
the 5i50 event — a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run — will be held June
24, allowing competitors to participate in both races. The event will
start farther down Lakeshore Drive this year instead of at UNO in order
to minimize traffic in residential areas.

Also, Burke is
introducing a new event — the Big Easy Sprint Triathlon — to be held in
conjunction with the 5i50. The Big Easy Sprint will be a 400-meter swim,
20K bike and a 5K run, allowing more beginners to enter into triathlons
in the New Orleans area.

“For anyone that’s looking to do any
sort of triathlon, you have to start out at a sprint distance,” Burke
said. “A sprint race is what they should be doing when they start out.
This is for the beginners and the novices that might be intimidated by
the Olympic distance at first.”

Ben Elder, head coach of Ochsner
Endurance Sports (formerly Team Rising Sun), said having a sprint race
will help introduce more athletes into triathlon.

“Having a sprint
race on the same day as 5i50 is opening it up to more people because
that’s a manageable distance for anybody,” Elder said. “The location of
the race is where everyone trains already, so it helps with everyone’s
comfort level.”